Dear Leah,  This morning we sent out a press release about the arrest last week of Rezwan Ferdaus from Ashland, MA, who is being held for plotting to bomb the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol. This is the 5th New England Muslim youth convicted of or charged with terrorist acts.  Please read our analysis: Our data show that there may be some reason to be especially concerned about Northeastern University. A reminder, the trial of Tarek Mehanna, the Muslim student accused of plotting to shoot shoppers in Attleboro's Emerald Square Mall, has been rescheduled for October 24th. Charles Jacobs

Date: October 5, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE "Why Another Radicalized Muslim Student in New England?"   Contact: Charles Jacobs, President - Americans for Peace and Tolerance cj@peaceandtolerance.org, 617 202 3004  The president of a Boston-based interfaith group, Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT) said today that the recent arrest of Rezwan Ferdaus for planning a terror attack on the Pentagon adds to the growing list of Muslim students who have been radicalized here in New England. Dr. Charles Jacobs noted that "Rezwan joins four other New England Muslim college graduates charged with or convicted of terrorist acts."   Jacobs listed: Ahmad Abousamra (Northeastern University) and  Tarek Mehanna  (UMass, Boston) who according to federal authorities planned to shoot shoppers at the Emerald Square Mall in Attleboro with automatic weapons. (Mehanna goes on trial this month.) Aafia Siddiqui, an MIT graduate, known as Lady Al Qaeda, who was sentenced to 86 years for attempting to shoot FBI agents in Afghanistan. Abdulrahman Alamoudi, an MIT graduate sentenced to 23 years for his involvement in a Libyan plot to assassinate the Saudi crown prince in 2004. "A major problem is that Muslim leaders in Boston have failed to address the growing presence of extremist Imams and speakers at local mosques and universities," Jacobs said.  .  Jacobs said that there should be "special concern at Northeastern University." The university's Muslim chaplain Imam Abdullah Faaruuq, is a leader of a movement demanding that Tarek Mehanna and Aafia Siddiqui be freed. Imam Faaruuq has been recorded on video telling Boston Muslims that Mehanna and Siddiqui are innocent victims of the war on terror, which he describes as an effort to target Muslims.  In response, Faaruuq told Boston Muslims to "pick up the gun and the sword, go out and do your job." (This can be viewed at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUYIHRRaPmA) Jacobs noted, "that we now have four young people charged with or convicted of terrorist acts who have links to Northeastern University or its Muslim chaplain."        (1)  Ahmad Abousamra, a fugitive in Syria and Tarek Mehanna's co-conspirator, is a Northeastern graduate. (2) Before his arrest on terror charges, Tarek Mehanna would give sermons to Northeastern students. (Mehanna's trial is scheduled for October 24th.) See our video describing Mehanna's connections in New England: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XeNw9YTBnQ. (3) Rezwan Ferdaus became radicalized about halfway through his studies at Northeastern.   (4) "Abdullah Faaruuq was Afia Siddiqui's Imam when she lived in Boston." Jacobs pointed out that on Saturday September 24th, 2011 the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury (ISBCC), held an event in support of Tarek Mehanna, at which Northeastern University Chaplain Abdullah Faaruuq spoke. The event featured the families of three convicted terrorists from Georgia, North Carolina, and New York (Ehsanul Sadequee, Syed Fahad Hashmi, Ziyad Yaghi), and was held to "shed light on the conditions of families and communities suffering under the war on terror." Jacobs said, "well-intentioned political and religious leaders have embraced and legitimized radical Muslim leaders in the Boston area. Indeed, on May 22, 2010 at an event hosted by the ISBCC mosque, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick embraced Imam Faaruuq and the office of MA Attorney General Martha Coakley received a $50,000 check from the Imam to fund Muslim sensitivity training for law enforcement." (The event is shown in an APT video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUYIHRRaPmA . Jacobs said, "Sadly, our media, civic and academic leaders refuse to connect the dots regarding this growing social and cultural problem.  American for Peace and Tolerance has for three years been raising concerns about the threat of extremist Muslim leaders radicalizing  the historically moderate American Muslim community here in New England and around the country.